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I'm planning on beginning my construction of a set of armor later this summer and I've doodled out about half a dozen crude diagrams for plates and I've not been happy with any of them so far. So I come here asking if anyone has any photos or sketches of some armor they've made that I could look at for inspiration I would appreciate it.

I'm primarily wanting to keep the distinctive look of the chest armor, with the separated pectrorals, and the diamond plate in the center, but I'm wanting to go for a heavier look. Bigger plates, more coverage. And try as I might, I'm coming up with the equivalent of writers block and just can't seem to get anything down on paper that I'd like to pursue. I'm not looking to copy, or steal anyone's patterns but I may borrow elements if I see something I like, but It will be distinctly my own creation that I actually end up building.

This is my current front runner doodle. Not super thrilled with it, but seems like it might be the one I end up making. The back plate will probably be one solid piece, with attachment points for a pack of some sort, and a slit just behind the right shoulder for a beskad sheath to be built into the backplate. Not everything is to proper scale, and the abdomen plates probably wont be so angled.

From a practical standpoint, torso mobility. Supercommando style armor has tons of holes all over. In most sets the sides of the torso are unprotected entirely. Kidney shots, a stab through the armpit, behind the plates from the sides into the gut... Also, lower torso wounds are rarely instantly fatal, painfull as hell yes, but rarely deadly, even less so in a universe with bacta. But like I said, I wasn't super happy with it.

Something I've learned as I've looked over Mando costumes throughout the years (and I like to think I've looked over a few. ) is when you begin to deviate heavily from the known look of the armor, then your ability to make the armor really look good starts to diminish. The other thing I've learned over the years is that there is a diminishing return on how much you customize your armor. I didn't believe that when I first got into this gig, but my tune has changed a bit over 5 years. You can customize your armor TOO MUCH. When you get to a point where you begin to blur the line between being a Mandalorian, and being something unrecognizable to Star Wars fans...then you've acquired to many diminishing returns.

Mandalorian armor would never have been designed to protect 100% unless the person wearing it was just a tank. It's mostly focused around being mobile, modular, and iconic (scary!).

So, my words of inspiration are this: Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with your armor drawings, take the common templates and make them yours. Design your mando, and customization around what's already noticeably Mandalorian. In the long run, you'll feel better about how it looks.

Hello man, for me, the best inspiration is have one proyect (make one by one), in order to focus all your energy and the most important been your self, any photos, info and tutorials will help you, but only you have power.......
looks this, I spend 2 years to get here and falls more to get better.............